UPDATE 1-Soccer-Liverpool's Rodgers endures painful opening day

August 18, 2012|Reuters

(Adds details, quotes)

By Mark Meadows

LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - New Liverpool boss BrendanRodgers, having dared to replace sacked fan hero Kenny Dalglish,could barely have imagined a worse opening day to the PremierLeague season after a 3-0 loss at West Bromwich Albion onSaturday.

The defeat was made more galling by a thumping 5-0 win atQueens Park Rangers for Swansea City, the team he left afterdevising a style of play that wooed a Liverpool hierarchy keento return to the pass-and-move groove of the 1980s.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had almost as bad a day asRodgers, watching his toothless side held 0-0 at home bySunderland in the week last season's top scorer and talisman,Robin van Persie, joined rivals Manchester United.

New strikers Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud had decentchances but never came especially close as Arsenal supporters,fed up by high-profile departures and no trophies in recentseasons, were left fretting over another difficult campaign.

News at fulltime of midfielder Alex Song heading toBarcelona hardly improved the mood in north London.

Liverpool fans, many of whom were upset by the Americanowners' treatment of Dalglish when he was sacked at the end oflast season after finishing eighth, were in an even darker placeas the promise of a Rodgers revolution began very badly.

A Zoltan Gera cracker just before the break, PeterOdemwingie's 64th minute penalty, and Romelu Lukaku's headersealed a famous opening day win for new Albion manager SteveClarke, Dalglish's assistant at Liverpool last term.

It could have been worse for five-times European Cup winnersLiverpool had Shane Long not missed an awful penalty on the hourafter Daniel Agger's red card for a push.

Rodgers felt the decisions for the penalties were harsh.

"From being largely in control of the first half we went in1-0 behind. A couple of decisions went against us," he told SkySports after handing debuts to Joe Allen and Fabio Borini.

"I've got to give the players credit, it was 3-0 but theynever stopped."

GOALKEEPING HOWLERS

In typically hot weather for the first day of the Englishseason, Arsenal and Liverpool's woes quickly gave fans somethingto talk about along with refereeing controversies, goalkeepinghowlers and smash-hit new signings in other games.

West Ham United's top-flight return was marked by a 1-0 winover Aston Villa and their new boss Paul Lambert, although KevinNolan's 40th minute goal had a hint of offside.

Fellow new boys Reading drew 1-1 at home to Stoke City afterAdam Le Fondre's late spot kick for the hosts partly spared theblushes of keeper Adam Federici, who was at fault for MichaelKightly's opener.

New Spanish midfielder Michu netted the first Premier Leaguegoal of the campaign after eight minutes thanks to QPR keeperRobert Green's mistake and later grabbed another as MichaelLaudrup started life as Swansea coach in thrilling fashion.

Fulham's Croatian Mladen Petric, another signing who wentlargely under the radar when drafted in from coach Martin Jol'sformer side Hamburg, also enjoyed a dream debut with a brace inFulham's 5-0 home victory over Norwich City.

Tottenham Hotspur's new boss Andre Villas-Boas was hoping toavoid the fate of Chris Hughton on his debut in the Norwichdugout, with Spurs visiting Newcastle United in the lategame(1630 GMT).